Toward an Animal Model of Borderline Personality Disorder
Abstract
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a pervasive psychiatric disorder characterized by emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, impaired self-perceptions, and interpersonal relationships and currently affects 1–3% of the US population as reported by Torgersen et al. (Arch Gen Psychiatry 58:590–596, Torgersen et al. 2001), Lenzenweger et al. (Biol Psychiatry 62:553–564, Lenzenweger et al. 2007), and Tomko et al. (J Personal Disord 28:734–750, Tomko et al. 2014). One major obstacle to our understanding of the neural underpinnings of BPD is a lack of valid animal models that translate the key known features of the disorder to a system that is amenable to study. To summarize the etiology, major symptoms, and symptom triggers of BPD and then propose a blueprint for building an animal model of BPD by choosing key components of the disorder that can be implemented in rodents. We identify the role of early life stress and subsequent mild stress in adulthood as contributing etiological factors and the potential use of altered communication between frontal cortices and the amygdala in extinction and habituation, increased impulsivity, dysregulation of the hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA), and increased neuroinflammation as biological markers of BPD. Building upon these features of BPD, we propose a two-hit animal model that uses maternal abandonment to alter maturation of the HPA axis and mild secondary adult stress to evoke behavioral symptoms such as increased impulsivity and…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a review, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
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